Georg-Wilhelm Schulz (10 March 1906 – 5 July
1986) was a GermanU-boatcommander of the Second World War.
From September 1939 until retiring from front line service in
September 1941, he sank 19 ships for a total of 89,885 GRT. For
this he received the Knight's Cross, among
other commendations.

Contents

Early
life

Schulz was born on 10 March 1906 in Cologne. He initially entered the merchant
marine, eventually spending ten years there, including time spent
on sailing ships. He joined the navy in October 1933, initially as
HSO, Handelschiffoffizier (merchant ship officer).[1]
He moved to the U-boat arm on 27 September 1935 as an Oberfähnrich
zur See, spending the next three and half years training on
submarines. During this time he appears to have been amongst those
sent to help the Spanish
Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War as he was awarded
the Spanish
Cross on 6 June 1939.[1]
He received his first command on 5 January 1939 when he took over
U-10. He was
promoted to Kapitänleutnant on 1 April 1939 and on the
outbreak of war he carried out two short patrols later that year,
before leaving U-10 on 15 October.[1]

Wartime
career

His next command was U-64, which he took over on 16
December 1939. He took her on her first patrol off the Norwegian coast in April 1940.
The patrol was only eight days old when U-64 was detected
by British naval air forces on 13 April, whilst in the
Herjangsfjord near Narvik.[1]
She was attacked by a Supermarine Walrus from the battleshipHMS
Warspite and hit by a 350-pound bomb and raked with
machine gun fire. U-64 was sunk, killing eight of the
crew, but 38 survivors including Schulz managed to escape to be
rescued from the water by German mountain troops.[1]
Two months later Schulz took over command of U-124 and took
her on a number of successful patrols.

His greatest success was on his fourth patrol, where he sank 11
ships for a total of 52,379 tons, whilst also having damaged two
other merchants.[1]
He was awarded the Iron
Cross 1st Class on 25 September 1940, and the Knight's Cross on 4
April 1941. He stepped down as commander of U-124 on 7
September 1941, handing over to Johann Mohr. During this time several later
successful U-boat captains had served under Schulz, including Mohr,
Reinhard
Hardegen and Werner Henke.[1]

Schulz then took over as commander of 6. Unterseebootsflottille,
initially based in Danzig, and later in Saint Nazaire. He was promoted to Korvettenkapitän on 1 April 1943, and in
October 1943 he was attached to the Staff of the 'FdU
Ausbildungsflottillen' (Commander Training flotillas) in Gotenhafen.[1]
He spent time here as a staff officer, and also as the leader of
the 'Erprobungsgruppe U-Boote' (U-boat testing group). He briefly
moved on 22 April 1945 to become the last commander of 25.
Unterseebootsflottille.[1]

Postwar

Little is known about Schulz's postwar activities. He died in Hamburg on 5 July 1986 at the
age of 80.[1]